Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations

Gottlieb: FDA Doesn’t Have To Choose Between Speed And Safety

Dr. Scott Gottlieb, President Donald Trump's pick to head the FDA, answered questions about drug safety, the opioid epidemic, his potential conflicts of interests and more at his Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee confirmation hearing.

The New York Times:
F.D.A. Nominee Deflects Criticism About Ties To Drugmakers At Hearing
Dr. Scott Gottlieb, President Trump’s nominee to lead the Food and Drug Administration, told Congress on Wednesday that he could speed the approval of new drugs without compromising safety or increasing risks, deflecting questions about his past writings, drug-company investments and Mr. Trump’s controversial positions. “We should reject a false dichotomy that it all boils down to a choice between speed and safety,” Dr. Gottlieb said at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. (Pear, 4/5)

In other news —

The Washington Post:
Conservatives Fall Short Of Another Goal: Defunding Planned Parenthood
Antiabortion groups thought they had a sure way to slash funding for the country’s largest abortion provider as part of the health-care overhaul proposed by the House Republican leadership. But the overhaul failed — a nascent effort to revive it has also stalled — dampening conservatives’ once-high hopes to achieve one of their dearest goals: defunding Planned Parenthood. (Cunningham, 4/5)

Stat:
Democrats Urge Trump To Issue Rules On Overriding Patents
More than 50 Democratic lawmakers have told President Trump that he can take one step himself to lower drug prices: Instruct the National Institutes of Health to override patents for medicines that were discovered with federal funds, but carry price tags that are out of reach for many Americans. In a letter sent on Tuesday, they argued the NIH should be encouraged to pursue so-called march-in rights. Under a 1980 federal law, this allows an agency that funds private research to require a drug maker to license its patent to another party in order to “alleviate health and safety needs which are not being reasonably satisfied” or when the benefits of a drug are not available on “reasonable terms.” (Silverman, 4/5)

Politico:
Ivanka's Secret Planned Parenthood Outreach
In the weeks following her father’s inauguration, Ivanka Trump quietly reached out to the president of Planned Parenthood seeking common ground on the contentious issue of abortion. ... Their under-the-radar meeting — a rarity between a well-known Democratic activist and a close adviser to a Republican president — has not been previously reported. (Karni, 4/6)

Stat:
She's Hellbent On Solving The Organ Shortage With 'Designer Pigs'
Where other people see bacon, biologist Luhan Yang sees lifesaving organs — hundreds and thousands of them, pig livers and pig kidneys and diabetes-curing pancreases, and possibly hearts and lungs, all growing inside droves of pampered swine. More established scientists than Yang have dreamed of creating animal organs that are suitable for transplantation into people waiting for a human donor. But until recently, experts said it would take decades to genetically alter pig organs to make them work safely in people. (Begley, 4/6)

The Washington Post:
More Than 1 In 5 U.S. Adults Were Infected By A Type Of High-Risk HPV, CDC Report Shows
During a recent two-year period, almost 23 percent of U.S. adults ages 18 to 59 had a type of genital human papillomavirus (HPV) that put them at high risk of certain cancers, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report published Thursday. That percentage jumped to more than 42 percent during 2013 to 2014 if any type of genital HPV was included, the CDC found. In both groups, prevalence was higher in men than in women, and it was sharply higher among blacks compared to other racial and ethnic groups. (Naqvi, 4/6)

This is part of the California Healthline Daily Edition, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.